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Judith Collin's as Minister of Police, with Paula Bennett becoming Minister for Social Development and Employment. Paula projects a softer image where it counts while Judith's 'no non-sense' approach is a better fit with the police.

Dr Jonathan Coleman in the cabinet. This guy is pretty new having come into parliament in 2005, but has been impressive in the house. Think he's a rising star.

Christopher Finlayson as Attorney-General. Probably the highest rank an openly gay man has ever risen to in New Zealand politics. What I like about Christopher is that he doesn't let his sexuality define him, he really is the best man for the job.

National also breaks new ground with the first Minister of Asian orientation.

Only a couple of concerns: David Carter and Wayne Mapp are Ministers of agriculture & science & technology respectively; areas relevant to me. The MPs are very much part of Nationals old guard and don't portray National's dynamic fresh image. But then on the other hand they could be safe pairs of hands. So we'll see.

KEVIN Rudd is hoping to match Malcolm Turnbull's online popularity by joining the social networking service Twitter

^ heh, had to a laugh at this comment:

Surely this is an April Fool's joke. kevinpm.com.au? I'm lost for words. Maybe some of you will think twice about voting Labor next time! Just like Americans travelling abroad under the Bush administration called themselves Canadians, we'll have to start calling ourselves New Zealanders.

Posted by: David of Brisbane 8:26pm today Comment 14 of 16

Not on your life David of Brisbane. If we can put up with nine years of Helen Clark and still call ourselves New Zealanders, then you can do the same with K Rudd.

In the Beehive, meanwhile, documents were being shredded and wheeled rubbish bins were being carted in and out of offices as staff packed up to make way for the new administration.

A little publicised out-come of the 2008 general election is the end of Heather Simspon's career (H2). H2 was widely regarded as the most power unelected official in NZ's history. She was a member of Clark's kitchen cabinet and even sat in on cabinet meetings. She was the ultimate backroom dealer.

H2's reputation was tarnished beyond repair during the last election campaign where she used the power of the PM's office to badger parliamentary services to pick-up the tab for Labour's election expenses to the tune of $820,000. Most notable was the pledge card (over $400k). There is email evidence which clearly shows H2 agreed to include the cost of the pledge card as an election expense therefore count against their cap. She totally backtracked on this after the election.

Sure, this is old news, but anyone who thinks Labour's 2005 overspend isn't significant needs to consider that the $820K overspend + NZ1st $160K essentially is the equivalent to half an election campaign!

So we have established Heather has a less than ethical record, which is why we haven't seen her since the election. NX-Files suspects that as soon as it was clear that Labour weren't going to win, H2 has been coordinating a massive document shredding exercise because she knows where all the bodies are buried.

To be fair, Helen Clark’s concession speech wasn’t bad. There were echos of McCain’s gracious speech.

But then, in typical Helen style, she ruined it with an inflammatory comment:

Miss Clark spoke of her pride in what the party had achieved over nine years in government, adding: "I just utter one fear, and that is that I do hope that all we have put in place doesn't go up in flames on the bonfire of Right-wing politics."

Nasty stuff. Defaming someone just because they have a different set of ideas to you is prejudicious rubbish. Especially in light of your loss. Prejudice in all forms is something the left suppose to be passionately against.

The quote above neatly highlights why I won’t miss Clark; her hypocrisy. I’ve lost count the number of times she has attacked her opponents over something they’ve done while not only committing the same crime but to a much greater extent. Examples include electioneering and dirty politics. It’s a cunning tactic but one that is particularly repugnant.

So my hope for the new National government is that they treat their opponents how they would like to be treated themselves. My other hope is for a Prime Minister that doesn’t have his head stuck up his own arse.

The first signs are positive; John Key isn’t obsessed with politics and doesn’t take himself too seriously. A brighter future indeed.

Chanting "bring on Mr Flip Flop", the unionists were outnumbered by those bearing National Party signs, but were the most vocal.

A general behavioural observation: Lefties tend to be more vocal than righties. Rightie tend to be naturally restrained. That is why I'm cynical about 'citizen juries' some politicans have proposed to help develop policy. A townhall meeting invariably ends up being dominated by some loud mouth leftie with nothing better to do, little sense, and is well funded by a union.

Though even righties have a breaking point:

One Labour supporter repeatedly asked Mr Key to "tell the truth" about the changes National would make to the Employment Relations Act.

NX-Files special tip: Don't bother trying to convert your leftie friends. If they're still voting left after all Labour has done, there's no hope for them. And chances are they won't understand your arguments and will look down on you for voting National. So the best non-conflict way to explain why you're voting National is to say you "don't want to see Winston back in government". It works a charm because who want's to defend Winston.

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About me

About: Welcome to NX's opinion blog. It's primarily on New Zealand politics, though anything goes. This blog serves as a place to explore my opinions for my satisfaction. I don't blog regularly.

The catalysis for this blog was my dislike for the Clark'n Cullen Labour govt - particularly their transgressions during the 2005 general election & treatment of then opposition leader Don Brash.

However, I'm not anti-Labour & consider myself a political moderate. I'm looking forward to someday voting for a Labour Party which isn't all about 'tax and spend', is happy with NZ's current constituational arrangement (i.e. keeping the monachy), and isn't controlled by the unions.
I won't hold my breath.